Homeless man Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, 31, a Guatemalan immigrant, collapsed on a New York street after being stabbed by a knife-wielding attacker. Tale-Yax had reportedly protected a woman from an attack, and was stabbed several time in the chest. Dozens walked by the dying man on the sidewalk. One even stopped to snap a picture of the man on his camera phone.

A scene worthy of Sodom and Gomorrah (the exact nature of whose sins may be open to debate, but definitely was not exclusively sexual in nature).

There’s a reason Thomas Jefferson described cities as “sores on the body politic”. They create civilization, but paradoxically also they also make us less human.

Too often we focus on what separates us from other people. Muslims believe this and we don’t. Christians believe this and we don’t. It is important to know what makes us different, but I hope we never let the things that make us different blind us from the things that bring us together.

We both ought to value life because it comes from our Creator. He is the one who creates. And if he has created a person who are we to say that this person has no value? I long to see the day when Muslims and Christians stand side by side in the fight for the value of life.

Similar to the kosher diet of Jews, Muslims also have strict dietary laws about what they can and cannot eat. Meat must be halal and this means that when it is slaughtered it must be killed in the name of Allah. It is easy to find halal meat in the Middle East. In the US you have to look a littler harder (unless you live in a large city).

The Washington Post recently did a short photo essay on a halal goat farm in Virginia.

First, they appeal to our fears by making gross misstatements about Muslims. They say, “How do Moslems seek to take control of a nation? Moslems seek to influence a nation by immigration, reproduction, education, the government, illegal drugs, and by supporting the gay agenda.” What are they talking about? Illegal drugs? Muslims don’t even drink alcohol. Perhaps they are talking about the Taliban in Afghanistan who are funded by opium. But what does that have to do with the average American Muslim? Nothing. The gay agenda? Homosexuality is a sin within Islam. Besides, I imagine a lot more supporters of the “gay agenda” would call themselves Christians than Muslims.

Second, the ad seems to imply that the mission of the church is to protect America. Yes, I am an American citizen, but I care much more about the Kingdom of God than I do about the Kingdom of America. Too many Christians in America think that the health and future of the church is tied to the health and future of America. It isn’t. God’s kingdom prevailed before America existed and it will certainly prevail regardless of what happens to America. I love my country and I want it to prosper, but I care much more about the church (the people of God) and most of the church is not American.

This is not the kind of ad that will encourage the people of St Cloud to go and meet their Muslim neighbors.

I read about this on Talk Islam and was encouraged by Abu Noor Al-Irlandee’s comment, “I agree it’s a good reminder about our need to engage with others and get rid of ignorance (including our own ignorance of others.)”

“Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust in Arab lands,” is a new documentary I made in partnership with MacNeil-Lehrer Productions, airing tonight on PBS. It retells largely forgotten stories from World War II in North Africa of Arabs who saved their Jewish neighbors from the Holocaust — a story which Holocaust historiography has largely left untouched. The documentary digs into history to uncover not only cases of Jewish persecution in North Africa similar to the Jewish experience in Europe, but also stories of the “righteous” Arabs that protected Jews. Filmed in eight different countries stretching from Morocco to Israel, the documentary reveals surprising discoveries about the past that can help challenge how Arabs and Jews alike view this part of Holocaust history.